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Deir El Belah War Cemetery

1917 establishmentsBuildings and structures in the Gaza StripBurial monuments and structures in PalestineCemeteries established in the 1910sCommonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in Palestine
Deir al-BalahMilitary history of Gaza CityWorld War I cemeteries
Deir El Belah War Cemetery, 2016 (4)
Deir El Belah War Cemetery, 2016 (4)

The Deir El Balah War Cemetery was established in March 1917. After the Armistice of Mudros ended the Ottoman Empire's participation in the First World War, some graves were relocated from nearby to the Deir El Balah War Cemetery. It was used until 1919. In 1998, names of casualties from the Indian Army that were interred at the cemetery were added to the cemetery's register; previously there was a memorial that did not name the casualties. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which is responsible for maintaining the cemetery, about 10% of the headstones had been damaged as a result of the Gaza war by June 2025. The Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim memorials had also sustained damage. A report by the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation noted that the bombing and fire were the main causes of the damage. The cemetery contains 724 graves of Commonwealth soldiers, including an Indian section with 64 burials, and 35 Australians.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Deir El Belah War Cemetery (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Deir El Belah War Cemetery

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N 31.425 ° E 34.3736 °
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(al-Musaddar)
Palestinian Territory
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Deir El Belah War Cemetery, 2016 (4)
Deir El Belah War Cemetery, 2016 (4)
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Deir al-Balah
Deir al-Balah

Deir al-Balah or Deir al Balah (Arabic: دير البلح, lit. 'Monastery of the Date Palm') is a Palestinian city in the central Gaza Strip and the administrative capital of the Deir el-Balah Governorate of the State of Palestine. It is located over 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) south of Gaza City. The city had a population of 75,132 in 2017. The city is known for its date palms, after which it is named. Deir al-Balah dates back to the Late Bronze Age when it served as a fortified outpost for the New Kingdom of Egypt. A monastery was built there by the Christian monk Hilarion in the mid-4th century AD and is currently believed to be the site of a mosque dedicated to Saint George, known locally as al-Khidr. During the Crusader-Ayyubid wars, Deir al-Balah was the site of a strategic coastal fortress known as "Darum" which was continuously contested, dismantled and rebuilt by both sides until its final demolition in 1196. Afterward, the site grew to become a large village on the postal route of the Mamluk Sultanate (13th-15th centuries). It served as an episcopal see of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem in Ottoman times until the late 19th century. Under Egyptian control Deir al-Balah, whose population tripled through the influx of refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, was a prosperous agricultural town until its capture by Israel in the Six-Day War. After 27 years of Israeli occupation, Deir al-Balah became the first city to come under Palestinian self-rule in 1994. Since the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000, it has witnessed frequent incursions by the Israeli Army with the stated aim of stopping Qassam rocket fire into Israel. Ahmad Kurd, a Hamas member, was elected mayor in late January 2005.